AutoCAD 2010 slow to get a network license

[ITDepartment-RolfeJudd]

Has anybody had issues with slowness when getting a network license for 2010?
I've been using lmtools for over 10 years and the issue I'm having at the moment is a first.
I've taken the network infrastructure and profiles out of the equation. The nic is running at 1Gb.
I have some PC's that take about 90 seconds to obtain a license and say not responding until they do, I have others that take seconds but the standard is about 20 seconds for a full open which is acceptable. If I borrow a license it opens in seconds so I can only put it down to the process of speaking to the licenses manager.
I run a 3 server redundant server model.
The Pc's are running XP srv pk 3.
A side effect of this is if the user 'ctrl+alt+del' when it say not responding AutoCAD fails to open again unless I re-boot.
This is happening on at least 3 pc's and a reinstall of the software made no difference.
Any ideas gratefully received.

Gary

[TravisNave]

Strange indeed. I am not a big fan of the redundant license server setup for a number of reasons. From the clients, can you ping each of the license servers? Are you using the ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE and FLEXLM_TIMEOUT system environment variables? Also have you verified that all three license servers are running and communicating with each other? As an additional network test, try turning your NIC down to 10/Half and see if the application launches any faster.

[ITDepartment-RolfeJudd]

Thanks for your reply.
I sort of know why it's happening now and the answer makes it even stranger.
I was using 3 different servers for many years to provide licenses for 2006 and below, when moving to 2010 I changed the 3 servers used as the previous 3 were old and needed taking out of the loop. I turned 1 of the old servers off last week......turned it back on and the slowness went away - still takes 20 seconds but that's better than it was.
What I don't understand is why this old server which is no longer refered to in my lic file is still being refered to.
The reason some PC's were OK as that they were relatively new and they had never gained a license from this old server. So I was only getting the slowness on old PC's.
I want to get rid of my old servers but with this happening I can't.
Are there any local files that keep a record? I can't see anything in the registry.
This is very odd and a little bit frustrating.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Try HKLM\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manger This is where we tweak stuff for our ACAD 2009 install. It has the names of the license servers.

HTH - Sarah

[ITDepartment-RolfeJudd]

Thanks Sarah you're a star.
When I looked in the registry before I just searched for one server name and now that I look at the key I can see why I didn't get anything back.
For maximum speed of opening I've removed any reference to a server and only left the local path and I've also done away with the system variable ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE as this slowed it down.
Now opening in seconds.
Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

garya@rolfe-judd.co.uk wrote:

> For maximum speed of opening......I've also done away with the
> system variable ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE as this slowed it down.
> Now opening in seconds.
> Thanks again!

Interesing. We have been using the Windows environment variable for
years with no problem, since this is the first location that AutoCAD
looks when searching for locations of a LM.

--
R.K. McSwain
http://cadpanacea.com

[TravisNave]

I agree with R.K. I think the removal of the variable vs. the performance is simply coincidence in this case. But as long as you are up and running, that's all that really matters!

[ITDepartment-RolfeJudd]

An update:
My issue was caused by running 2 versions of AutoCAD for a period whilst evaluating and changing servers used to supply the licenses for various reasons. This info was kept in the registry and AutoCAD got confused.
I've just done a test on a number of PC's and if the variable is set it takes about 10 seconds to open (slightly longer with Vista). Without any variables AutoCAD opens in about 3-5 seconds, basically there is no delay.
Try it, you can always but the variables back.
Take tha variable out, amend the FLEXlm License Manager ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE so it only has the local path to AutoCAD and see if you see any difference.